Might get 3 cobalts, need advice please

[Tonya Freeman]

Mites are pretty inevitable. You will get at least some type of mites in your culture. Thankfully there are different types of mites. White mites are called grain mites. They will not really impact your culture too bad. You can microwave your media that you've prepared for about 30 seconds or so when making it. That will usually destroy any mites that may already be in the media. Then you would let it cool before adding your flies.

As for black mites.. they are a little tougher. You can tap your flies into a cup with a bit of calcium powder before adding them to the new culture. This has been shown to lower the amount of mites transferred to the new culture. If either type of mites become prominant your culture will crash.. or have a very short life cycle.

It's great that you are researching ahead of time!

-Edit- One of the most important things.. which I failed to mention.. DO NOT keep your new cultures close to your old cultures. Mites will transfer from your older cultures without an issue. That is why it is important to keep them on a mite paper/paper towels sprayed with mite spray, and to make sure that your lids do not touch each other.

[nok1888]

I heard you can put some vinegar in the media to help stop mites is that true? I'll do the microwave bit to try stop them


-------------------------------------------
2.0 Border Collies - Jinky and Chance
3.0 Cats - Monty, Dodger and Crunchie
1.1 Royal Pythons Orlina and Sedrick
0.1 BCI Boa - Aasia
1.0 Western Hognose - Hagrid
0.1 Bearded Dragon - iiara

[Tonya Freeman]

I believe vinegar is used more for keeping mold out of your cultures. It may do a little to prevent mites.. but they are pretty hardy creatures.

If you start with mite free cultures.. for example, buying from a reputable breeder or sponsor, you should be able to get mite free without problems. When you do see a mite or two, don't freak out Keep it away from your other cultures, but keep in mind that it will take weeks for them to build up a colony that could destroy your culture in most cases. It is recommended to throw your cultures out after 30 days because of that. Some cultures will continue to produce longer than that.. but at a risk of a mite infestation. That is why I used my culture schedule so I could replace my 30 day old culture with a new culture each week.

It sounds scarier than it is. It will probably happen to everyone a few times in the hobby.. but if you take precautions such as getting rid of old cultures, keeping new ones separated from older, using mite paper or spray, not allowing lids to touch each other, and keeping the cultures away from your tanks, you most likely won't have many issues.

[Heatheranne]

I make my culture media with boiled water. I keep a citronella candle on the shelf next to my cultures. By the time the mites get in and start multiplying I've already used some of the clean ff's before that point to start the next culture. When the sides of the culture darken on the 1/3 bottom and tiny white bugs move in it it's time to toss that culture. If you started the next culture 2 weeks prior you'll already have enough to feed from the new culture and enough to start another culture from that newest culture .

[Tonya Freeman]

I make my culture media with boiled water. I keep a citronella candle on the shelf next to my cultures. By the time the mites get in and start multiplying I've already used some of the clean ff's before that point to start the next culture. When the sides of the culture darken on the 1/3 bottom and tiny white bugs move in it it's time to toss that culture. If you started the next culture 2 weeks prior you'll already have enough to feed from the new culture and enough to start another culture from that newest culture .

I've never heard of using a citronella candle. That is interesting! You just leave it next to the cultures unlit?

[Heatheranne]

Yep. It's just a cheap Walmart candle. Nothing fancy.

[Tonya Freeman]

I may give that a shot! Thanks for the tip